A collective in Baroda raised hopes
for contemporary Indian art but
failed to live up to its self-proclaimed
ideals. SANDHYA BORDEWEKAR
details the desires and aspirations of
Group 1890.

Jawaharlal Nehru viewing Raghav Kaneria’s work with
J. Swaminathan and S. Harshavardhan at the Group 1890
exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, October 20, 1963.

Probably, only a few
contemporary Indian
artists have heard of
Group 1890, or are aware of
what it stood for. This is
unfortunate because Group 1890
was, perhaps, one of the earliest
serious efforts among Indian
artists to question prevalent art
practices and formulate a new
approach to art-making.

The Group was founded in
Bhavnagar, Gujarat, in August
1962, after a series of meetings
with various artists from
different parts of the country. Its
name was arrived at rather
quixotically by selecting the
house number of Jyoti and
Jayant Pandya, who had hosted
the twelve artists, which included
J. Swaminathan, Ambadas, Jeram
Patel, Jyoti Bhatt, Raghav
Kaneria, Balkrishna Patel,
Gulammohammed Sheikh, M.
Reddeppa Naidu, S. G. Nikam,
Rajesh Mehra, Himmat Shah
and Eric Bowen. Jyoti and Jayant
Pandya were art connoisseurs;
Jyoti was a self-taught artist of
some importance. The Pandyas
were not only supportive of the
artists, they were also gracious
ART Profile India The Art News Magazine of India December 2011 Volume XVI Issue III
hosts. Indeed, many visiting
artists from different parts of
Gujarat would stay at a hotel on
Marine Drive managed by Jayant
Pandya.

The Bhavnagar meeting had
been the outcome of prolonged
discussions over a period of two
years. Finally, “having come to a
common understanding
regarding the vitiating influences
which hinder the unfolding of
authentic development in art, it
was decided to launch the Group
1890 movement”.1 The Group
had no regional affiliations,
although it became associated
with Baroda, probably because a
few of its members later made it
their home. Most significantly, it
didn’t advocate any set principles
related to art-making. This
differentiated the Group from
many other art movements that
focused on a particular style or
ideology.

J. Swaminathan led the Group
while Jeram Patel acted as its
secretary. Following the
discussions at Bhavnagar, the
Group arrived at a manifesto,
drafted primarily by J. Swaminathan. The manifesto
was finally adopted in New
Delhi on the 17th of July, 1963.
The manifesto voiced the
Group’s unequivocal rejection of
the prevalent art practices of
Indian artists. It also revealed the
Group’s approach to the creative
process. The manifesto declared,
“To us, the creative act is an
experience in itself, appropriated
by us and therefore bearing no
relation to the work of art, which
creates its own field of
experience, as the experience of
copulation is not the same as
that of the offspring.” In their view, therefore, a work of art
stood alone, isolated from any
explanatory props that the artist
wanted to offer. This idea was
the keynote of the manifesto; the
rest of their arguments served to
bolster this primary theme.